Author's Notes: This story is a prequel to At the Beginning and End of All Things. I would suggest reading that story first because without it, this one might not make as much sense.
Chapter One
Pitch still remembered the day he found the ice sprite. It seemed incomprehensible that the creature responsible for such mindless destruction could be so small and frail and yet so powerful.
Pitch had spent countless years being tormented by the feeling of the sprite's power leeching into the earth as he struggled to integrate himself to the environment to ensure his continued survival before beginning his search. No matter how much he tried to concentrate his will on developing the planet's primitive life forms into a proper state of sentience to produce the fear he needed to survive, he could always feel that presence in the back of his mind - a gentle pulse of power as sure as the sunrise and as unstoppable as the tide. It called to him, drawing him closer so that when he finally began his search, it didn't take long.
If Pitch had a heart, he would have described his first sight of the ice sprite as pitiful. Here was a creature used to the freedom of flight and endless empty spaces lying broken and striped of his power, left naked and injured in a strange and alien place. Nevertheless, the sight awoke a feeling deep with him that he couldn't properly describe. Perhaps it was that he had a heart after all, even if that heart felt like it belonged to another man, a man who had died long ago.
It was easy for Pitch to retrieve the sprite from his earthly prison. Unconscious, he offered no resistance as Pitch carried him into the shadows. The earth held many dark and secret places that Pitch chose to make his home. It seemed almost inappropriate to keep a creature with such bright and luminous skin in a place filled with deep velvet shadows, but Pitch reasoned that the sprite must be shocked and irritated by the alien sun on his skin having never felt such a thing before.
It suddenly occurred to Pitch that the ice sprite had never been exposed to light before. Before the accident, he would have been covered in layers of ice and dust - protection from the hazards of deep space - since the moment of his birth. Pitch realized that he was the very first person to ever see the ice sprite's true form.
He was beautiful too - certainly by the standards of the constellations. His body was well formed - lithe and slender, his youthful appearance at odds with his ancient origin. His hair was white, matching his soft skin and glowed like starlight especially in the deep shadows that Pitch called home.
He gently set the sprite down in a bed he had wrought from the shadows and covered his thin body with blankets woven of the same material. The sprite was badly injured but fortunately showing signs of healing. It would be some time before he was ready to even open his eyes. Pitch stared at him lying there and indulgently reached out and ran his fingers through the sprite's silver white hair.
It was surprisingly soft but cold like ice, like the frost that was leaking from the sprite's unconscious form, patterning the dark shadows he was wrapped in with spiralling ferns and roses. To Pitch's surprise, the sprite sighed and leaned into his touch. Pitch found this to be both an unexpected and alien experience. He was the Nightmare King. No one sought his presence willingly and certainly not for comfort. It was then that he realized that just as no one had ever seen this sprite before, he had never been touched.
Pitch smiled darkly at the thought, stroking the soft skin of the boy's cheek with the back of his fingers, watching as he responded, sighing and leaning closer. Such a novelty - a creature that did not fear the touch of darkness. Pitch found himself eager to meet the sprite properly when he finally awakened. He was sure to have beautiful eyes.